Discussion: Gouache BRAND COMPARISON

[PCool]

Link shows out of stock. Here is a few more links:

https://www.cornelissen.com/watercolour-gouache-and-egg-tempera/watercolour-sets/schmincke-horadam-watercolour-tin-10-x-5-ml-tubes.html

http://www.greatofficebuys.com/Products/Schmincke-Gouache-13-Color-Light-Wooden-Box-Set__SEP72013097.aspx?utm_source=nextag&utm_medium=ppc

[bookat]

My absolute favourite is Acryla Gouache. The pigments can go on translucent or opaque, and the pigment is soooo vibrant and juicy. I can’t get enough of it. I have tried Schmincke gouache but it does not compare whatsoever.

[PCool]

Hi bookat,

Are you able to rewet this brand?

Peg

[Yorky Administrator Ormskirk]

Acrylic medium in gouache makes them acrylics.

All paints use the same pigments it is the medium which makes them watercolours, gouache casein, oils etc.

Doug

We must leave our mark on this world

[Renee Marks Watercolor]

I have read this thread from start to finish and loved it. It started a long time ago but is a subject that never needs to end.
I use watercolor. I have since March of 2008, but I was thinking about trying Gouache around the year of 2011. I bought a few tubes but never used them. I have three tubes of Holbein and two tubes of Lefranc & Bourgeois. Both were listed as artist grade. Tonight I decided to test a few swatches out. The tubes were all bought several years ago and the Lefranc & Bourgeois was a bit separated but not bad. I didn’t like that there is no pigment information on the tube. I checked Dick Blick and those two colors do not have it listed on the website either. But other colors of this brand do have some of the pigment information listed. The Magenta was nice and bright but the Cyan was a little dull. The list price at Dick Blick for a 25ml tube of Lefranc & Bourgeois Gouache is $5.95 and they are on sale for $4.69 if you by up to 12 colors.

When I put out the Holbein the texture difference was obvious right away. No separation in the tube at all after all this time. Plus, the three primaries I bought were clean, bright and very saturated. The cost for a 15ml tube range from $10.60 to $32.95, granted the expensive ones are cobalts. However, Dick Blick store always sells their paint at a lower discounted price. That cobalt is discounted to $21.35 but most of the rest hover between $6.21 to $11.35. I like that Holbein has all the pigments listed and the 3 tubes I have are listed with pigment information also. Smaller tubes and higher priced. The Lefranc & Bourgeois was really not bad for the money. They had no cobalts or cadmiums I could see so are not non toxic. Still listed as artist grade. Go figure.

I would love to try Schmincke because that is my favorite watercolor brand but the Gouache price is over the top even at Dick Blick’s discounted price. I may end trying M Graham because I have a feeling it will rewet the best if it drys in the palette and the price is not half bad for what you get. I don’t paint out of doors anyway so no bees will chase me.
I really want light fast pigments and if the information is not there to let me know what is in the tube, I wont be buying it.

Does anyone else have any experience and opinion about Lefranc & Bourgeois Gouache?

[FONT=Arial Narrow]Renee L. Marks

[Gina Lento]

I love M Graham gouache. Lukas isn’t bad, Maimeri performs well and I also like Holbein. A trick I learned from Roz Stendahl is to carry around dry gouache in a palette for sketching. All 4 mentioned above perform exceptionally well for this use. They hold up well to drying and rewetting. I have no complaints about the performance of these 4 brands. I use a whiskey palette and a pocket palette to travel light with my gouache.

W&N on the other hand, they turn to crumbs in my paint box. They dry to a hard rock in the tubes (and my tubes aren’t that old, I have older M Graham tubes with no issues) and I won’t ever purchase it again.

Gina Lento
www.ginassketches.wordpress.com

[Yorky Administrator Ormskirk]

I confirm that W&N gouache dries to a hard cake and is difficult to re-wet. Conversely Caran d’Ache pan gouache is easy to re-wet if linited in colour range.

Doug

We must leave our mark on this world

[artdragon86]

I confirm that W&N gouache dries to a hard cake and is difficult to re-wet. Conversely Caran d’Ache pan gouache is easy to re-wet if linited in colour range.

Doug

Doug, are the Caran d’Ache gouache lightfast? I Have seen them on Jacksons’ site and been tempted by them but since they are relatively cheap I assumed they’d be more of a student grade.

I mostly use Lukas and Art Spectrum gouache. I think I like Lukas the most, even though the set I have has a few odd colour mixes. I used to have Winsor & Newton but they were awful, with some separating and some mutating so that instead of a nice matte finish they looked glossy when I painted with them. I also found that the blues and earths were very reluctant to rewet once they were dry.

Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.
Rebecca ~ http://artdragon86.wordpress.com/

[Yorky Administrator Ormskirk]

I have never tested them and little information is available on pigments etc. I just find them very handy for gouache sketching using a waterbrush. You assume disks are student grade but C/D is a reputable brand. The main advantage is convenience an ease of re-wetting.

This is a sheet of gouache minis done on my knee watching TV using the C/D pan set.

Doug

We must leave our mark on this world

[Kosmon]

I have never tested them and little information is available on pigments etc.

Artsy Lissa posted this info last December (the Orange and, I think, the Violet aren’t in the pan set, but come in one of the tube sets):

I wrote to the Caran d’Ache company and inquired what pigments are in their gouache cakes tin. The below is what I received back. PS: I asked if PB59 was a typo and didn’t get a reply on that piece.

Best regards ~Lissa
………………………………………….. ……………………..

Color reference, Color Name, Color Index, Lightfastness

001 White PW6 ***
005 Grey PW6 / PB15 / PBk7 ***
009 Black PBk7 ***
010 Yellow PY1 ***
030 Orange PO34 / PY3 ***
035 Ochre PY42 ***
059 Brown PY42 / PR101 / PBk7 ***
060 Vermilion PR4 **
080 Carmine PR23 / PR170 ***
090 Magenta PR81:1 / PV2 *
120 Violet PV23 ***
140 Ultramarine PB59 **
170 Cyan PB15:3 **
180 Malachite Green PG7 / PB15:3 ***
210 Emerald Green PY3 / PG7 ***
230 Yellow Green PY3 / PG7 ***
240 Lemon Yellow PY3 ***

Kos

Hemmed & Hawn
from
PERESTRELLO's BOX[/COLOR][/COLOR][/B]
Root, Bone, Sticks & Stone

[Yorky Administrator Ormskirk]

Thanks Kos, very useful.

Doug

We must leave our mark on this world

[robertsloan2]

Thank you! I used to have the Caran d’Ache pan set and loved it, they were beautiful and powerful. I didn’t worry about lightfastness because half my Winsor & Newton gouache colors weren’t lightfast, just treated everything as “shelter it and keep it in the dark.”

I use Pelikan pan gouache again now, found that at Blick and recently tried the Lyra pan gouache. Wow. Lyra’s a lot like the Pelikan in how it handles. Pelikan has an annoyingly curved box though. I’ve been using them both a lot more than tube gouache, probably because I’ve always preferred pans in transparent watercolor too.

I preferred Winsor & Newton to Maimeri though. I had some trouble with Maimeri gouache with the colors crumbling if I tried to keep them in a folding palette. Very frustrating. Something in the binder they use does not want to cohere once it’s dry, which hints to me that heavy applications in a painting might crack just as much.

Robert A. Sloan, proud member of the Oil Pastel Society
Site owner, artist and writer of http://www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com
blogs: Rob's Art Lessons and Rob's Daily Painting

[Yorky Administrator Ormskirk]

Thanks for the feedback Robert, I find C-D pan gouache very convenient.

Doug

We must leave our mark on this world

[Merritt]

Hmmmm here we go again, as a retired international professional, who has tried them all and has worked with gouache more than most as a designer and artist I stand by W&N & Schmincke. The light fast issues are not a issue and international galleries accept these. For those that have issues with gouache drying hard on the palette, my advice to those is, to invest in a good quality wet palette, and to learn to work with a mist bottle. For any gouache that is dry on the palette its dead simple, spray water over the palette, let it rest, use an old brush to mix it into a smooth milk consistency. A (stay wet aqua pro) coverable palettes are a great investment when using gouache. Just found on google, result for caran d’ache gouache review
Caran d’Ache Gouache Studio Sets. Caran d’Ache Gouche is a studio-quality paint that is ideal for beginning artists. However at the end of the day each artist finds whats good for themselves, what they find they love to use.

An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.

[Yorky Administrator Ormskirk]

I use the C-D pans for plein air with a water brush and also for doing minis in front of the tv, no mess.

Doug

We must leave our mark on this world

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